Cabin cruisers, yachts, and similar boats often have a dingy mounted thereon. A dingy is typically from about 5-14 feet in length, and may be inflatable. Alternatively, other dingies may be made of fiberglass, metal, or any other suitable material. Dingies are typically mounted on either the deck or swim platform of such boats. Dingies are often used as emergency life rafts/boats, or alternatively to enable boaters to anchor a distance from shore in their large boat and move ashore on their dingy.
In order to secure a dingy on a deck or platform of a boat, dingy "chocks" are typically provided. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,096, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, discloses a dingy mounted on the deck of a boat via a plurality of dingy chocks. In this regard, reference is made to FIG. 1 of the instant application. As shown in prior art FIG. 1, dingy 2 is mounted on deck 1 of a boat by way of four dingy chocks 3. Chocks 3 are typically of fiberglass, wood, or other solid material. Other dingy mounting systems are also known (e.g., where chocks are mounted on the swim platform of a boat).
Unfortunately, in many prior art applications, dingy chocks are semi-permanently mounted to the deck or swim platform of a boat. Thus, when the dingy is taken off of the chocks for use, the chocks often remain on the deck or platform thereby creating a significant obstruction to free use of the same. In scenarios where solid dingy chocks may be removed from the deck or platform, such chocks typically take up substantially amounts of space and are difficult to store in a convenient manner. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, space is very valuable on a boat.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that there exists a need for an improved dingy chock(s) for supporting a dingy on the deck or platform of a boat.